Legion of X #7 pg 8/9 (Diaz art, Spurrier story) - DPS of Astral Technarchy in Legion’s Dreamspace

This DPS comes from some of Netho Diaz’s earliest work at Marvel. I believe he had an issue of THUNDERBOLDTS #3 (vol 4, done in late 2022 as guest penciler for that series), that may have preceded the work done for LEGION OF X initially done in late 2022.

Now that Diaz has cemented himself as a regular artist for the prime title of X-Men, it’s great to see some of the early work for what started his journey in the world of X. His detailing and design created in Legions’s dreamspace plane of reality is phenomenal. He really knows how to create characters in awe, showcasing what they are in awe about.

In particular, this page is part of the storyline that tells of the Phalanx using their astral blooms (spores of the technarchy) to see and start planting themselves in every realm of existence, even something like this astral realm dreamspace for mutants created as a safe space from Legion in the Age of Krakoa. The Phalanx are using these spores to see, touch, taste anything that may be novel from this mutant society. If they find it worth consuming, they’ll build a Babel Spire to signal bringing more Phalanx to consume, adapt and takeover this novel species adding this new “information” into their species. This page features Warlock (a mutant Phalanx, that was able to break a way from the herd) and Legion gathering all the blooms and feeding it into itself from an Astral Technarchy that already appears to be present in this plane of existence.

I really enjoy the energetic lines and action of this Astral Technarch, it’s ferocious and beautiful as one would like for a monstrous entity in the astral planes. Diaz didn’t hold back on the BG detailing either, he did a full job creating these details as well as shading with some of his linework. The lower right expressions on Blindfold, Cypher, Legion and Warlock really sell the enormity and beauty of this realm and seeing this beast in action as it comes to life and consumes.

The final published inking and color work in this page from Sean Parsons and Federico Blee really add to the magnificent beauty of the artwork. The story, art, ink and color really combine to make some truly Uncanny X art on this preliminary X series that really showcased Diaz’s talents to ultimately give him a proper seat at the table of X.